Let’s start with the easy stuff. Looks like I am leaving all the strawberries for her. I also ran out of rats, so an additional spawner should be a good investment. Now let’s add something for rats to move vertically. Tiny little ladders, that seems like the simplest solution, yet looking at mana costs, furniture is slightly cheaper. How is that possible?… it’s larger. More materials should mean more mana required, right? No, it’s something different… theming. Tiny little ladders don’t belong in a shed, and thus creating them is less cost-effective. Is this why all the girls’ spells are some kind of lightning? She is a lighting mage and those are cheapest for her?

I suppose this makes sense… for now; it means I am making some furniture. Well, just one. A small but tall shelf, add to that a broom in a corner and parapet below the window and there are 3 possible angles of attack. This is pretty good. Though, perhaps it’s beneficial to have the function of those items not be readily apparent. Not to mention, they are sturdier. Guess that’s what I am going with.

Now, something new to throw at her. Let’s try making a bigger rat, just like I did with the moth. I focus my mana to produce a rat champion. She took just 5 days to grow and is only slightly longer than the others, but a lot faster with sharper claws and thicker fur. Overall, I am satisfied.

Another thing is expeditions. I didn’t lose that many moths, and they aren’t doing that much in combat regardless. I think it’s best to get back into the groove of sending them out. Especially since my growth means room to expand my war room, and as I increase its size, the map covers a larger area, and shows more details. My sphere of influence grows. This is good, as with two spawners I do have a lot more available forces.

Still, I could use some way of dealing with hostile wildlife. Most of them would take something far stronger and larger than my rat champion. I could try sending her to destroy a bird nest or two. Birds seem to be the weakest of the bunch, and ones threatening my moths aren’t much larger than a rat. Even if she can do it, I have only vague ideas about nest locations. On top of that, sending out dwellers costs mana proportionally to their own cost. Odds are, a bird crusade would end up losing me quite a bit of mana, but there are possible returns… Let’s keep her on guard duty for now. Perhaps when I am more confident about nest locations, I will do it. With my mana spent, nothing to do but wait and see what my adventurer lady brings this time around.

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She shows up like clockwork, on an evening, 10 days after her last visit. No new gear, but she hits harder, and even more accurately. However, I am more aggressive with my rats, sending 3 at a time, flanking, and utilising the champion for particularly nasty hits. I use moths to blind her, sending them one at the time, directly into her eyes. The first two have some effect, but the next one is zapped by a fairly weak and small, but well-placed, static field. I suppose that’s her answer to this strategy. Still, this fight was good, even if I lost the rat champion. I did land more hits than in the previous two fights, and I do have rats to spare. Come to think of it, the champion is not gone entirely. She is back in the spawner.

She patched herself up, took the loot, ate the berries, and left. Before leaving, she turned to look back. "You batter be prepared for next time. I will twice as strong" she said playfully, but it sends shivers down my spine. Well, I don’t have a spine, but the feeling was about the same. She has a plan. I must stay vigilant. I could go easy on her, but if she can actually double her power, the fight will be no matter what I do. I definitely need to improve my self as much as I can to put a fight. She did some damage to my garrison, more than ever before, and I would like to have a solid reserve at all time. At the same time, It would be best not to get too deadly. I will need to find a balance. Enough troops to put up a fight, going easy enough to not injure her too badly. I doubt she can actually double her power, but I rather be over prepared. I would also like to surprise her with something, to keep it interesting.

Perhaps I could hide some rats behind the chest and attack her when she collects the loot. Tempting, but it feels like I established some safety after the rat onslaught ends. If I keep it this way, I can offer her things outside of battle. Maybe a trap, like a bag of marbles. She is light on her feet. Yeah, that works. I grow a bag of iron ball bearings on one of the shelves. A rat can slash it open mid-battle. This should be enough for now.